1. Field of the Invention:
This invention has relation to packages for individual servings of spreadable materials such as butter or margarine and to a structure which will keep the material in a sealed pocket until it is ready for use and then will permit the material to be manually discharged from the pocket at a controlled rate as needed and will serve as a spreader for such material.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Individual containers are used in restaurants for dispensing individual portions of liquid coffee whitener, and spreadable materials such as butter and ketchup. Many of these containers are cup-shape and utilize peelable membranes to hermetically seal their contents until the contents are to be used. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,273 to Wayne, granted in December of 1962; U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,960 to Inman, granted in May of 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 2,705,579 to Mason, granted in April of 1955; U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,649 to Brodsky, granted in May of 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,885 to Redmond, granted in January of 1983; and French Pat. No. 1,488,333 delivered in June of 1967.
Individual dispenser packages made of heat sealable sheets for holding ketchup or the like, and which must be cut or torn to release the contents are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,801 to Lowry, granted in April of 1967.
A package consisitng of two compartment walls of heat sealable, flexible material adapted to contain an easily spreadable material such as ketchup is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,661 to Repko, granted in July of 1969. This patent shows a stiffener adhered to one wall to keep the package from bending while the ketchup is being dispensed. The stiffener extends from end to end of the package, is located on the centerline of the package, and the inventor states that, "In a preferred embodiment . . . the stiffener is narrower than the" flexible walls. Specification, column 2, beginning on line 43. Further in the specification, column 3, beginning on line 45, Repko states that the spreadable material or ketchup, after the package is opened, is "then spread evenly on the surface of the hamburger. During this operation, the stiffener 24 adds the desired support to the package 20, thus precluding the collapse of the package 20 and insuring even, effortless spreading of the material 35 to form a uniform coating."
What was needed before the present invention was a package which furnished its own stiffness, and provided for the dispensing at a controlled rate of a fairly firm spreadable material such as butter onto a butterknife-like spreader blade, the entire surface of which is kept free of contaminants until the package with spreader is put into use dispensing and spreading the spreadable material. Such a package should be so designed and shaped as to allow virtually all of the spreadable material to be easily evacuated from it.
A number of additional patents were found by searchers for this invention; but none is believed to disclose anything more pertinent than those patents discussed above.
Neither the inventor nor those in privity with him are aware of any closer prior art than that discussed above, and they are not presently aware of any prior art which negates the patentability of the claims herein.